Giving up a Lease

You may have good reasons for wanting to get out of your lease, but breaking a lease is still breaking a deal, so you could be punished.

A written lease or rental deal between you and your employer is a legally binding contract. Even if you have a good reason for wanting to get out of your lease (for example, you are moving because of a job, marriage, or divorce, or the apartment is seriously damaged), breaking a lease is still breaking a contract, so you could be punished.

Chances are high that you will have to pay a charge for breaking a lease if you do any of the following:

These are the most common reasons why people break a lease, but they are not good enough to get out of paying a penalty. But because many states require landlords to’mitigate losses’ by making reasonable efforts to re-rent the apartment, the more notice you give your landlord about your plans to move, the more likely you are to limit or even avoid a punishment. You can also help your owner by looking for a new roommate.

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Remember that if you have a set lease, which is usually for a year, you have to pay rent for the whole year. This means that if your owner can not find a new renter right away or loses money because you moved, you will probably have to pay the difference.

If you break a lease under the following circumstances, you might have to pay a fee:

If your owner has not done what he or she was supposed to (for example, by not doing maintenance or fixing things right, or by invading your privacy), you may have a good reason to break the lease. Check your Lease Agreement to make sure you know exactly what your landlord is responsible for. Write a “Complaint to Landlord” letter and keep a copy for yourself. This way, if the landlord does not do anything, you will have proof to use in court. So that you can fight a sentence in court, you need to keep good records of what happened.

If you break a lease under the following circumstances, you will not have to pay a fee:

There are a few situations in which you would not have to pay a fee for breaking a lease: